Fallout New Vegas: Rangers of the Frontier
by John Lander
Summary: Set during the events of the game, the series follow Darrel and Loogie, two Urban rangers who help keep the peace in the outlying ruins around the strip. When they leave the Rangers to seek their own fortune they encounter a number of bizarre events and colorful figures from across the Mojave.
1. A day in the life of a Ranger

Rays from the sun scorched the land and the ruins surrounding new Vegas, it was around midday and it was normally around that time when the heat started to reach its highest point. This once great city stood proudly within a sea of sand; however, after the Great War much of much was destroyed or left to decay and now this once great metropolis was nothing but a shadow of its former self. All the roads that flowed between the buildings that were once strong and sturdy were now cracked, broken and littered with rusted cars.

Since the district was outside the walls of New Vegas they weren't patrolled by the Securitrons so it wasn't as safe as the strip, here you could be murdered for food and have your throat slit for a bottle of water by both drug addicts and the gangs of raiders. Although the NCR had a brief prescience within the Strip they did little to help keep the peace outside of the city walls, occasionally small groups of soldiers would pass through but that only happened then troops went to the embassy and then back to Camp McCarran. Although the lawlessness of the surrounding land was terrible there were small pockets of hope, in the connecting borough of North Vegas Square were a few who wanted to bring law to a place of chaos.

In the middle of the day in the ruins around New Vegas two men patrolled the outskirts, both of them were young and around either eighteen and nineteen years of age. They walked along side each other heading toward the east at slow pace, both were completely different and weren't just normal civilians.

One wore a button-down blue and white plaid flannel shirt with rolled up sleeves and a pair of tanned trousers with two thigh holsters on either side, a pair of brown boots on his feet and a bandolier across his chest. The hair atop of his head was golden brown which was smoothly combed. In both of his holsters on either side were a pair of magnum revolvers, both of them fixed cylinders which were reloaded by hand one round at a time, as such it can be interrupted mid-way through reloading and fired if needed. The bandolier across his chest was filled with magnum rounds, the ammunition of his guns needed.

The other young man with had a short wooden tooth pick in the corner of his mouth no bigger than half an inch which he kept at all times. He had a gormless look but his eyes reflected something. Everything about him was much to the cloak and dagger act he put on; one look at him would be dismissed any idea that he had a brain inside that head of his. Atop of his head was a straw hat with a wide brim, curved to the sides, indents in the top and at the temples, and a thin black band at the base. His outfit consisted of a duster with a black undershirt and a pair of grey canvas trousers underneath a long, brown leather overcoat with the sleeves rolled up above the elbow. A pair of fingerless leather gloves on both his hands, and a pair of motorcycle boots for footwear.

Over his shoulder was a repeating rifle, Due to the gun having a tube magazine, it is reloaded by hand one bullet at a time. Because of this, it gave his gun the added advantage of being quickly available to fire again if only a single or a few rounds are needed.

As they walked side by side each other, neither one with the desire to overtake as they were both engaged in a conversation.

"Ok I got one," the young man in the grey shirt said, "Would you rather….have sex with a ghoul or have to reconstruct a suit of power armour by hand?"

The other young man rolled his eyes in response, "Dam Darrel, you always pick the hard ones!"

"You can talk!" he replied, "Loogie I had to do your one, would I rather get shot in the face by a sniper or go bare fist fighting with a Death claw and that was a hard one so now you gotta do a hard one".

Loogie thought to himself, he took out the tooth pick with his left hand and fiddled it around with his fingers as he thought to himself. With his right hand he pointed back toward Darrel and asked, "The Ghoul, would I have to do it missionary or doggie style?"

"Missionary, the lights are on and you have to look it directly in the eyes," Darrel replied.

Loogie's face suddenly dropped, the idea of making love to a human being deformed by nuclear radiation did not appeal to him in the slightest shape or form. A second later Loogie placed the tooth pick back into the corner of his mouth and asked, "The Power armour, what tools do I have to help me?"

Darrel looked around at the local area before stating, "You get a screwdriver, a wrench, a spanner and a torch".

"What do I need a torch for?"

"So you can see inside the armour,"

"…is the ghoul gonna talk?"

"Moaning and groaning the whole time,"

Loogie then stops walking, his mind races with the two choices in his head as he debates both the pros and cons of his choices. No matter what he could think of comparing the two he finally managed to pick out of the two. As Darrel stopped and looked at him Loogie said, "Well, in that case, you have yourself a new suit of Power Armour".

From the distance a gunshot echoed throughout the area, in that moment the two shared their friendly and playful atmosphere vanished within an instant and was replaced with fear and adrenalin coursing through them. Darrel took out the pistol in his left holster while Loogie took the rifle from over his shoulder and pressed the butt against his shoulder. The two looked at each other with stern eyes; Darrel gave Loogie a slow nod before quickly loading his fun with six bullets while Loogie did the same with his rifle. The two began to run, the duo charged through the ruins with their weapons ready and loaded. Both their minds were focused on the task of getting to where the gunshot was heard, apart from that they only made sure they didn't trip over cracks in the road while making sure there were no surprise attacks.

Both of them came to the end of the road and took a right turn, when they came round they saw what appeared to be three down the end of the road standing over a dead body. The road was littered with old rusted cars and what appeared to me a large crater in the middle between the raiders and the collection of destroyed vehicles around the connecting roads. Loogie raised his gun and fired the first shot, in seconds one of the raider's was hit and fell to the ground. The remaining two turned to see the two gunmen; they both drew their pistols and began firing. Darrel and Loogie quickly ducked for cover behind one of the ruined cars. The two kept their heads low; bullets began to hit the side of the car as the raiders fired at it in hopes of hitting one of them. During this shoot out one of the raiders cried out, "Hey! Get your fucking asses out from behind that piece of shit!"

His voice was filled with so much hate and anger yet little to no humanity left in him. In this moment of shooting Darrel took out both of his pistols, he looked toward Loogie and nodded slowly and mouthed the words 'when they stop we start'.

They sat, waited and listened for the gun fire to stop. As a minute or two passed the gun firing stopped and voices began to curse as they struggled to reload their weapons. Darrel then got up from behind the car; he pointed both of his pistols towards the raiders and began firing. With each pull of the trigger small metal bullets shot through the air and over a distance of ten to fifteen feet away they struck the raiders and passed straight through them. Blood spattered out through their bullet holes and as soon as they were hit the remaining two fell to the grounds. When the fighting had stopped Loogie emerged from behind the car and Darrel had put away his pistols. The looked from where they were to see the blood from the dead raiders spill out onto the road and seep into the cracks which made them look like thousands of tiny arteries.

Darrel and Loogie began to walk toward the bodies; Loogie hadn't put his weapon away for he was keeping a look out encase there were more raiders nearby. He raised his river and looked down the barrel while examining the area, Darrel walked over to the bodies to examine them. Look upon these corpses he recognised the one who didn't have bad skin due to over use of chems, lying on the ground with a of bullet holes in his forehead. His dark grey shirt had been stained with blood and his torso had a number of smellier wounds throughout his upper and lower body.

"Shit," Darrel said, "They got Desmond".

He turned away with annoyance and anger, examined the bodies of the raiders and noticed they had already begun to loot his body. On the belt of a dead raider was Desmond's lucky gun, a nine millimetre pistol with the word 'Candy' carved into the grip panel. Darrel reached for the weapon and carefully pulled it from the belt of the corpse, Darrel sighed with disappointment as he looked upon the gun with sadness, "Shame really, Desmond was a good ranger. He deserved better than to be shot dead in some ruined city".

Loogie continued to look around vigilant and ready, "We're urban rangers Darrel, we know the risks when we join. Now if we don't leave I'm pretty sure other raiders will show up and they'll do to us what you did to their friends now let's go!"

Darrel took out one of his pistols and placed Candy into his empty holster; he stood up and looked around, "Alright let's get back to Square North"


	2. Sit down at HQ

In North Vegas Square was a medium sized building with a large window frame on the ground floor and two window frames on the second floor. Before the war it had been a bar of some kind, when you stepped in through the main doorway you would see a large wooden counter with a rusted till upon the top on the far left. On the wall behind the counter were a number of rifles and pistols held in place by iron fittings, they were formally the property of raiders and were displayed in the establishment like war trophies. In the corners of the room rested chairs and tables, sat around them were men and women of different ages and races. All of them wore different clothing but they all shared one thing in common, they either had a rifle over their shoulder or a pistol by their side.

In this crumbled building Darrel and Loogie walked through its doorway, as the two young men walked through they could tell something was wrong. Both of them looked upon the faces of the people and saw they a grim vibe was among them, whatever had caused it seemed to supress whatever merrymaking usually filled the first floor during the day.

"Looks like somebody died in here," Loogie whispered under his breath.

Standing behind the countertop was an African American woman, her long hair in a crew cut style wearing a heavy black coat, had two leather strips, greyish trousers make up sturdy black boots. In her hand was the barrel of a gun which she was polishing, out of everyone in the room she seemed to be the only person who didn't seem depressed. She stood there simply polishing parts of her gun which lay upon the work top in pieces and with a few bullets beside them. Darrel and Loogie looked at each other, they wanted to know what had happened but they knew of Desmond's death yet they weren't sure if others knew of it. As the duo walked toward the counter they looked toward the woman standing behind it, when they were close enough Loogie asked, "Something wrong Lexi?"

She didn't reply straight away, her focus remained on the weapon in her hand. As the two noticed she began to move slower and slower while cleaning the weapon, Lexi then stopped what she was doing and put the gun back down on the wooden worktop. Her grey eyes looked toward Loogie and Darrel with bitter sentiment, "So, guess you haven't heard?"

Ragged and filled her friction, Lexi's voice was like a vocal representation of political relations between Freeside and the NCR. Darrel then looked briefly at Loogie before asking, "What happened?"

"Four of the guys took a job from the Followers," Lexi said, "They were mean to help escort a medical caravan from their outpost to the west to the Old Mormon Fort. Half way to Vegas they were attacked by raiders, only the trader made it out of fire fight"

Loogie lowered his head in distress, Darrel patted him on the back before asking, "Who took the job?"

Lexi looked Darrel directly in the eyes, "Jonny, Mark, Frankie and Carlos".

"Shit," Loogie murmured, "That makes five"

Lexi looked confused, "Five?"

Darrel took out the gun named 'Candy' and placed it upon the wooden work top, "Desmond, he got gunned down by some raiders. We found his body south of the Raider's compound but we managed to get a few of their own"

Lexi stopped what she was doing and looked at both of them, "I remember when we kept those raider scumbags in the ruins. Now it seems they're picking us off, how the fuck did it come down to this?"

"If worse comes to worse we can ask the Kings for help,"

"Those grease heads ain't gonna give a shit about the Raiders and you know it, all they care about is Freeside,"

Darrel tapped his index finger repeatedly on the gun marked Candy, "What about the Gun Runners? Maybe they could resupply us or get us in contact with some Mercs"

"We don't have the caps for the shit,"

Lexi took a step back from the counter and rested herself again the back wall, "The only thing we can do is keep going, we just got to keep doing what we do best and keep the raiders away from New Vegas. We're New Vegas Rangers; it's what we do best right?"

Darrel and Loogie both nodded in agreement; in the brief moments that followed they looked at each other with shared views and feelings. Both young men knew that the Rangers were good at what they did but they were not what they used to be, sadly, both being low ranking members they could say or do little about the current status of the group. Darrel straightened himself out before asking, "Got any other jobs going?"

Lexi turned away, "Yer, but it's in Freeside. The Van Graffs are looking for some Rangers to do a job for them"

A weak grin appeared on Loogie's face, "Well I don't know about you, but do you think we could get a few free drinks if we take the job?"

"You work not drink!" Lexi snapped, "So get to it!"


	3. Walking through Freeside

Broken roads and crumbled buildings filled Westside; this inner city ruin was once part of Las Vegas but was now nothing more than a faded memory. Although many bombs from the Great War missed the Mojave they had been abandoned for more than two hundred years, as a result the building weren't too badly damaged and on some even the original neon lighting from the time still functioned perfectly.

Loogie looked around at the sights while Darrel led the way; one seemed to be fixated on what once was while the other tried to find their destination. Darrel examined the structures and their positions while correlating them with the directions given by Lexi, although she had given him limited descriptions he managed to make out the correct way. He remembered her saying once you get into the second half of Freeside take a right, go down the road between two lampposts and head straight to the end where you'll find the Silver Rush.

Loogie admired the sign above the King's school of impersonation; he then went on to tap Darrel on the shoulder to ask, "Do you ever wonder?"

"Wonder about what?" Darrel wondered.

"What the world was like before the war,"

Darrel stopped walking, he turned back to Loogie with a grim look in his eyes, "To be honest I couldn't care what it was like. No matter what we like to think about the Old World is gone, it went up in a ball of flame and radiation. Besides, we have more important to think about than what the world was like so let's just focus on what we need to do"

Loogie felt phased, "Alright then"

Darrel went back to walking; he took a right turn when he came to the crossroads and headed toward his destination. At the very end of the road sat the building both of the rangers were looking for, with grey and white neon lighting above a double doorway sat a sign reading 'Silver Rush' in big white letters that turned on and off every grey seconds. Either side of the doorway stood two men dressed in black battle armour armed with laser rifles and both men were obviously door guards to ensure thieves did not break into the building. Loogie then stopped admiring his surrounding and looked in the direction that Darrel was focused on, he saw the Silver Rush at the end of the street and felt his curiosity of the old world slip away.

Loogie made sure his rifle was still on his shoulder, "I sure do get a funny feeling in my gut when I see that place"

"We don't have to deal with them," Darrel stated, "All we're here for is to get the details of a job, do the job then after we get paid we never have to see them again"

"Until they want us to do another,"

"Well in that case we'll ask Lexi to give the job to someone else,"

Darrel headed toward the Silver Rush with Loogie beside him, the young rangers wondered what their next job would be or how it would go. The two never really came this far into Vegas, not that they never wanted to but because of what they would hear. Stories from gamblers would describe how if you were caught cheating or screwing over the wrong person could result in broken limbs or violent deaths or sometimes even both. These stories filtering back through the outer reaches of the city caused worry and concern for those who wanted to take their chances and get rich. Neither of the two ever thought about gambling in the casinos, they were handy with a gun and they made a pretty cap earning it via a fight so they didn't want to give that up. Not a day went by that the lights of The Strip couldn't be seen from miles away and while the two young men thought about going there they knew not what they would find or if they could stay out of trouble. Yet with everything that was happening, it felt that the rangers may not be around for long, Darrel had something on his mind he wanted to share.

"How much do you think?" Darrel asked.

"What?" Loogie replied.

"How much do you think we could get if we went to The Strip?"

Loogie let out a tut of disappointment, "Thought you said we shouldn't go to the Strip encase we get killed by some gambler"

"Given the fact this could be our last job don't you ever think we might need to do something else," Darrel stated, "I mean we could work part time as bodyguards for some rich folks while gambling our winnings. Occasionally"

Loogie then grabbed Darrel by the shoulder, turned him forward so he could look him in the eye and stopped. Loogie then poked his finger into Darrel's shoulder so hard as if he were trying to puncher his flesh, "That life, it ain't for us and you know it. Come on, look at us; we're guns for hire and nothing more to it. Guessing we could always try and gamble and we could win big too if we were really lucky. But that won't change how the suits look at us. We're hired hands; we got dirt on our hands and now no matter how much we got, no amount of caps can get rid of it in their eyes. If I were you, I'd push that idea out of your head and forget about it"

Darrel took in the words of his friend and deep down he knew he was right. All the while there were two groups of people in the world, those with stuff and those who needed it. He also knew that he and his friend fell into the category of those who need things, sadly for people who need to work there was not much they could get out of life unless they did something incredible or they took things from others. Darrel could never be that kind of person, killing or hurting others just so he could survive.

"Yer," Darrel added, "I guess you're right man"

The two then continued on walking down the road and toward the building. As the two approached the entrance of the building, one of the men in body armour called out to them, "You two from the Rangers?"

Darrel replied, "Yer, the Van Garaffs called for our services"

The two men in armour sniggered in amusement before the other one commented, "That they do my friend, that they did"


	4. Inside the Silver Rush

Darrel and Loogie stepped through the large iron doors, as they walked through they were completely unprepared for what they would find. The two entered into a room they saw what appeared to be the remains of the gutted Silver Rush casino. On all of the walls of the interior were a terrifying display of large amount of ammunition, a grenades, and mines.

All of these weapons were energy based and the flickering lights on the weapons caused both Darrel and Loogie's confidence to sharply dipped, neither of them had only seen a laser rifle yet alone an entire energy stockpile so close. At the centre of the room were a desk with an Old-World computer on the surface, standing behind it leaning against the wall was an African American woman with a crew cut hair cut. She wore a Grey-blue suit jacket, matching mini-skirt, ripped black fishnet tights and black boots. The woman leant against the back wall with her arms crossed as she waited, as both Darrel and Loogie made their way closer to the desk the woman turned her gaze toward them and looked them up and down.

"You two assholes from the Rangers?" she asked.

Her voice was filled with bitterness and her eyes were so stern she almost reminded the two young men of a Night stalker. Loogie then turned toward Darrel; he didn't want to be the one who say something so he left the talking to his friend. Darrel then took the lead as he replied, "That's us ma'am. How can we help?"

"Got an important package we need you dipshits to deliver," the woman replied, "It's heading to the medical clinic outside New Vegas, get it there and you'll be paid well"

"I take it you're one of the Van Graffs?"

The woman slightly tilted her head to the right, "Are you getting paid to ask questions?"

Loogie then looked down to avoid her eyes, Darrel seemed uneasy yet he answered, "Well…I mean…I only wondered if…"

"No you fucking ain't!" the woman snapped as she moved away from the wall and pointed at him, "All you need to know is where you're taking our package. You can call me Gloria, besides that you don't need to know anything else, you got that!"

As Gloria reached underneath the desk Loogie managed to exchange a look of amusement with Darrel, his eyes and cautious grin while he tried to resist the urge to laugh. Loogie then looked down and murmured, "Nice going"

Before Darrel could say anything Gloria made her way over to the two and held out her hand, resting in her palm was a small Parcel made from brown paper with a symbol painted on. The symbol showed a cartoon version of a man standing tall while a number of bullets and knives seemed to be defected off his skin. Darrel seemed unsure of what was inside yet given the social disposition of their employer he didn't want to risk making her angry. Without saying a word Darrel reached out for the package and took it from Gloria's hand, as he felt the crinkle of the material in his finger tips and it made him curious. Darrel had never felt paper that wasn't either burned or hundreds of years old and much to his disappointment he wanted to ask questions about it yet given his circumstances he felt that would be a bad idea.

"You'll be paid once you get to the drop off point," Gloria replied, "You little bitches steal it or open it before you deliver it I'll have the both of skinned alive. You got it?"

Loogie then nodded in agreement, "That we do ma'am"

"Then what you waiting for? Go and take it over to the clinic!"


	5. Busting up Dixon

A gentle breeze from the east slowly swept through Freeside, Darrel and Loogie came out of the Silver Rush heading toward their destination at a slow pace. The package they had been given seemed important as they were threatened with death if they stole it, being threatened didn't faze them too much as they have been threatened before by both friends and enemies. As he thought to himself Darrel began to crinkle the paper with his fingertips, via a simple touch he could feel the corners of the box that was housed inside.

"So this clinic," Loogie said, "You ever been there before?"

Darrel thought to himself before replying, "Never really been out to that area. I mean I stay around the west and south, I mostly avoid the East"

"Because of the Legion?"

"That and I prefer not to be chatting with farmers,"

As the two came back up the road they looked around, Darrel pointed back toward the east side and as he continued Loogie followed. As the pair passed through the large iron divider they remerged onto the other side, opposite them was the Old Mormon fort which was used as an acting hospital for the Followers. There people from Freeside and the Rangers would go for medical attention and from time to time both Darrel and Loogie had had both woken up on a stretcher from time to time with a bandage somewhere on their body.

As they turned away the two continued on their journey, travelling through Freeside toward the eastern entrance both Darrel and Loogie kept their hand on their guns. Where they were heading had a number of dangerous people there, none of them were a serious threat but anyone who went around that area would most likely be attacked by occasional drug addict. This area wasn't like the rest of Freeside, here the weapons of the Great War had left deep scars in the once built up area reducing the former skyscrapers to nothing but rubble. No neon signs were on any roof top nor were there any places of interest, among the broken streets and the huddling chem addicts was a single shop named Mick &amp; Ralph's with a large sign with the words painted on in large white letters. Unlike the other doorways and street corners not a single addict dared to sit in front of the shop or in its doorway, this was mostly due to the fact that one of the owners would take to shooting at anyone of them who dared loiter for too long.

Loogie looked around at the sidewalk and felt his heart sink; he could men and women of all ages with strong withdrawal symptoms either sitting around small fires or trying to keep warm by sleeping beneath rags and other materials. As the two came around the corner both of the young men saw something even worse than the suffering around them. Standing on the street corner was a man with blood shot eyes. He wore a long leather jacket with the sleeves removed, a white t-shirt underneath, as well as black trousers and sturdy grey shoes. Atop of his head was a light brown baseball cap with a pair of biker goggle. His face was covered with a thin layer of dirt left behind by days without bathing; he obviously didn't care about his appearance and more about his business.

Both Darrel and Loogie stopped walking and made sure they were not seen, Darrel slightly turned his head toward his friend and asked, "That guy, he's Dixon isn't he?"

Loogie slowly reached for his rifle and took hold of it, "Yep, he's the piece of shit that deals chems and drinks out here"

"Where does he get the junk for all this?"

Loogie went to load seven bullets into his gun, "Doesn't need to get it from anywhere, he makes it all himself so he takes all the caps he makes. We can't let him keep dealing that stuff"

"….so….what do you think we should do?"

Loogie finished what he was doing before looking Darrel straight into his eyes, "I saw we send him a message, saying that he can't cash in on people's suffering"

Darrel agreed with what his friend said and so with an idea in his mind and smirk on his face he drew one of his pistols, "Alright then, we'll mess up that shit bag so badly he'll need a doctor to put him back together"

With their weapons ready Darrel and Loogie went around the corner and headed straight toward Dixon, both of the young men had fierce looks on their faces with no chance of them retreating or leaving him alone. As they got closer and closer Dixon then noticed the two approaching and held his arms out wide.

"Hey guys," Dixon spoke aloud, "Here to get a fix?"

Neither of them replied, when Loogie was in arm's length of the dealer he raised his rifle in the air and struck the dealer in the face with the stock. As it impacted on his face Dixon was sent to the floor at which point blood began to flow from his nose, as he lay on the ground both Loogie and Darrel began to hit and kick him with all their anger and strength. Again and again the dealer cried out for the two of them to stop but they didn't listen, they were both determined to seeing him critically injured. When Darrel and Loogie ran out of breath they recoiled, they looked down on the twitching and groaning body. Darrel then patted down Dixon's jacket and felt something large in his jacket pocket. As he reached inside he could feel whatever it was it was made of metal, as he retracted his hand both of the young men saw it was a gun. The weapon was a 44 magnum revolver; it was in perfect condition and the frame of had been painted black. Darrel handed the gun to Loogie, "Think you should take it, I mean after all, I got Candy so you should carry a pistol with you"

Looking down on Dixon with amusement Loogie then took the gun from his friend, "Seems only fair"

Darrel and Loogie then took their leave, both of them walked away from the blood stained Dixon with a feeling of self-righteousness as they had put a bad person out of work and maybe the area could recover in the short term. As they walked away the addicts who sat on the side walk and sat in doorways looked up at them, rarely had they seen anyone stand up to Dixon yet alone beat him within an inch of his life.

"The Clinic is close by right?" Loogie asked.

Darrel thought to himself before replying, "Yer, I think so, yer"


	6. On loose sands

"I got spurs that jingle jangle jingle," Darrel sung with pride.

Both of the young men ventured toward the eastern ruins of New Vegas, between the ruins and the main city lay a rough patch of small ravines and sand. As they traversed this terrain between the ruins Darrel had started singing, this was mostly to alleviate the boredom of their long journey. With this feeling of joy inside him Darrel continued, "_Jingle, jangle_. And they sing, Oh, ain't you glad you're single? _Jingle, jangle_"

Loogie didn't join in as he wasn't a massive fan of Pre-war music yet he didn't want to say anything as he too felt exceptionally good about himself. After pounding Dixon to the ground and putting him out of work they felt as if they had done well, knowing that someone else eventually step in and take over the area at least the two of them gave people there the opportunity to recover and possibly break their addictions.

As they walked along Loogie looked around, among the rouble of levelled houses and worn down roads an old memory began to take shape inside his mind. Loogie slightly turned his head toward his friend, "You remember when we first met?"

Darrel stopped singing and as he let out a upbeat laugh he replied, "Yer I remember, it was around about here"

"Somewhere beneath that over pass," Loogie stated as he pointed toward the crumbling road, "We were just trying to find somewhere warm to sleep. Next day I remember waking up and seeing you still there, didn't try and rob me or nothing"

"Not gonna lie, I did think about it at the time but when I was finished thinking you'd woken up,"

Both of them laughed in amusement at the idea. Both of them continued walking off the road and made their way across the dry sands. Loogie then put his around Darrel's shoulder, "The next day was mighty interest, I bet that Gun Runner you could break apart any gun and put it back together again within five minutes. The look on his face when I did it in three, easiest two hundred caps I ever made"

Darrel then pointed the finger on his left hand toward his friend's face, "After that you took me to Freeside for the first time. We got some food from that guy on the sidewalk, best Radroach meat I've ever had"

"Fourteen years later here we are, the best of friends,"

From the distance came the sound of someone screaming followed by the sound of gun fire, in a flash both Loogie and Darrel sprang into action. Darrel took out one of his pistols while Loogie took hold of his newly gained revolver, both of them sprinted toward the origin of the scream. Both of them jumped over a large pot hole before bolting sharply around the corner of a long road. When they came around the corner both of them raised their weapons, in the middle of a dirt road lay the dead body of a young woman. Kneeling over her body was a feral ghoul wearing nothing but ragged trousers, the creature was thin and malnourished which was a direct result of being deprived of nourishment for many months. An open wound on the neck of the body was freshly made, blood began to pour out from her jugular and mix into the sand. The Ghoul used its hands to tear open her flesh around her stomach, reaching inside the creature pulled out her small intestines and began to pull it apart before devouring each piece. Darrel then looked toward Loogie, his eyes filled with disappointment and disgust while adding, "Well…you wanna fire first or should I take that honour?"

Loogie looked at him bust didn't say a word; all he did was turn away, look down the barrel of his fun point it directly at the creature's head and pulled the trigger. In an instant the bullet coursed through the air and impacted directly between the creature's eyes before bursting out through the other side. As the Ghoul feel backward both Loogie and Darrel ran over to the girl's body to see if she was still alive, both of them looked down upon her and watched as what little life she had slipped away.

Darrel put away his fun before stomping his foot on the ground and shouting, "Fuck! I fucking hate Ghouls!"

Loogie didn't display his emotions so openly, all he did was lower his gun and turn away from the body. Going over to his friend Loogie gave him his opinion, "Must have been really hungry, normally they wait until it's dark before they come up looking for food"

"What was she doing out here?" Darrel asked.

The young ranger then turned back to look down on the body, "This area is hotspot for creatures like that; Lexi should have had a few Rangers come through and clear this place out. The Rangers exist to stop shit like this from happening, yet it just happened"

"We're spread thinly around the south of Vegas; we don't have the numbers we used to keep the peace out in the wastes,"

Darrel looked back toward the dead body; he felt a strong feeling disappointment but all the while he knew the harsh reality of living in the Mojave and how you could die easily. Darrel turned back toward his friend and asked, "So, what do you think we should do?"

Loogie then looked around, "I guess we could make a grave marker or something. I'll get some bricks or rocks from the ruins while you dig a shallow grave"

Darrel looked around at the surroundings; he thought that she deserved some kind of burial and it seemed only right that they should do something. Darrel nodded in agreement with his friend, shortly afterward they both went off in different directions. Loogie headed toward the nearby ruins of a house to look for make shift standing stones while Darrel went down to the side of the road.


	7. A wonder on the sands

Darrel and Loogie ventured onward, on their fingertips were the remains of sand that stuck to their skin only because of the blood from the body they buried. Neither of them had said anything and Darrel had stopped singing, their moment of joy had been brought to an abrupt end when they both realised the harsh realities of the Mojave. Step by step and drudging their feet through the sands of the wasteland both of them thought, they remembered back to when they were children how hard things were just to stay alive. Darrel turned to Loogie for a moment, he wanted to ask him about his thoughts on a shared experience, he felt the words begin to formulate but before he ask anything Loogie slightly turned his head and bitterly stated, "I know you wanna ask me something but I…I just don't feel like talking right now"

Darrel didn't say anything; he knew what the reason was and didn't want to make things worse. In that moment of silence both Loogie and Darrel had the same memory inside their mind, both of them remembered that one job they took and thought it would be a walk in the park but instead it changed everything.

Without warning the silence they both shared ended abruptly when loud shot gun blasts were heard, Darrel and Loogie pulled out their weapons and ran as fast as they could toward the origin of the noise. Bolting around the corner Loogie raised his rifle and looked down its barrel, slowly turning in each direction to spot anyone. Darrel took out both of his pistols and pointed outward, he too looked around trying to see anything that could be a threat. Both of the rangers found themselves in a wide open space, silence had returned and neither of them could hear or see anything that would lead to a cause for what was happening.

"Might be more Ghouls," Darrel guessed, "I'll take point, you follow behind".

Both of them ventured forward, as Darrel took the lead while keeping his wits sharp and Loogie followed behind protecting the rear. With a tight nit formation the duo quickly advanced ready for anything both of the rangers remained focused. Coming around the side of a ruined building they both saw an elderly man clutching a shot gun as he was within arm's reach of a dead mole rat. The tense feeling disappeared when both Loogie and Darrel realised who fired the shot gun, they both put away their weapons as they approached the old wastelander.

"Alright Tim," Darrel said, "How you doin' ?"

"Good, thank ye," Tim replied, "Just gettin' me something for dinner"

His voice was deep and crusty, living in the desert with little water and eating poorly cooked meals over many years gave his speech a rugged tone. He was wearing a coat with many pockets with stains on it along with a few pouches along his belt. Lowering his shot gun this aged hunter nodded at both of the rangers before taking out a knife and going over to the slain beast and began to slice pieces of the beast's flesh.

Both of the young men continued on their way one of them wondered something, taking a quick look at Tim before going on their way Darrel whispered to his friend, "…strange that"

"What?" Loogie replied.

"Hunting with a shotgun; be better to use a rifle, only way not to pick pieces of metal out of your meal,"

Loogie cared little, shrugged his shoulders before stating, "It's his hunt, he can use whatever weapons he wants"

As they continued to walk onward Darrel looked back, the aged hunter was now nothing more than distance figure from away. Meeting with Tim only a few times over their whole lives both Darrel and Loogie thought of him as a distant friend and occasional hunting companion. As Darrel looked toward the direction of Vegas and saw someone running toward them, being so far away it was impossible to tell who it was but he gave his friend some fair warning, "Possible threat at six o'clock"

Loogie stopped and turned around, now both of the rangers could now see the approaching stranger only to be surprised when they realised who it was. Racing toward them at great speed was a young child no more than eight years of age, his long scarf fluttered in the wind as he ran. When he was close enough both of the rangers could see this scrawny street urchin clearly as his stained and torn coat was his most memorable feature. As he approached he was gasping for air, having to run at such speeds was not his strong suit but when he was getting paid for it he simply did what was asked of him. Now standing close enough to the rangers he looked up and straightened his jacket before speaking, "Hey guys…I got….got a….message from….from Lexi"

"That is?" Loogie asked.

Taking off his jacket there were visible sweat marks under his arms as the young boy threw his coat over his shoulder, as his panting began to slow down he was able to continue, "Lexi says…all Rangers have to…to go back to HQ right now"

Darrel became annoyed and deeply frustrated, "We're in the middle of something and we can't just walk away from it"

"Give me the job, I'll do it and give you the caps,"

Some of his anger subsided and knew the young boy would remain true to his word, "Ok, thanks Doug. You can keep half of the caps if you want"

"Walk out all this way and we gotta turn around and go back. Fuckin' priceless,"


	8. Crossroads

Stepping through the doorway both of the young rangers saw every other ranger armed to the teeth and ensuring their weapons were functioning properly. Few of them sat around piles of grenades and ammunition while they divided it all up equally, pushing through the crowded room Darrel and Loogie realised something big was about to go down. Let stood at the other end of the room loading what appeared to be an assault rifle with a demented grin on her face. As they walked over to her it seemed all of the rangers had been given new weapons along with a great deal of ammunition from large boxes.

"Lexi?" Darrel pressed, "What's goin' on?"

As she finished loading the rifle Lexi then placed it on the table in front of her before turning her eyes on the two, "I've made a decision and I'm gonna need every ranger ready to fight"

Out of the duo Darrel managed to put two and two together then realised what Lexi had planned while his heart sank, "…you cannot be planning what I think you are"

Loogie briefly looked at Darrel before turning back to Lexi and the sudden realisation of what was about to happen. Lexi leaned back in her chair before smirking with amusement, "I've decided to take the fight to the Raiders in the South Vegas ruins. Managing to scrape together all the caps I could I went to the Gun Runners, bought a shit load of guns and ammo then when everyone is ready we go on our way"

"You're gonna get butchered by those twisted fuckers," Loogie muttered.

Lexi got up from her seat and stood toe to toe with Loogie with eyes like daggers, "You wanna know what's fucking twisted, the fact that our Rangers are getting picked off while the Raiders keep gaining ground. We gotta do something even if it is bloody, beats sittn on our asses while we lose men"

Darrel glanced at Loogie before adding, "What if…what if we don't wanna go?"

Lexi took a step back, "All of us are going, if you ain't going then you ain't gonna be Rangers no more. Sort your shit out before you decide, I'm not gonna force ya'll to do nothing but we need everyone"

In the silence that followed Loogie simply turned away and walked out of the building. Darrel called to his friend but received no reply or any acknowledgement; rather he stepped outside without flinching or reacting in the slightest form. Darrel had no choice but follow his friend out of the building but when he stepped outside he found Loogie in an unlikely place. A few feet away from the doorway, on the ground with his back to the wall Loogie simply looked onward with eyes vacant of emotion while retaining awareness of his surroundings. As Darrel vacated the building he re-joined his companion within a matter of moments. Instead of launching a series of verbal reminders of loyalty to the Rangers and shouting orders like a Drill Sergeant, he did what a friend should do in a situation such as this. Walking over Darrel stood beside Loogie only to slowly lower himself down so he would be able to sit side by side with his closest and only friend.

Loogie struggled to find the words but as his courage took hold he managed to speak his mind, "…I know what you're gonna say. We're Rangers, Lexi is the leader and that's that, but…but I ain't dying in some old ruin with no body giving a shit"

Darrel leaned his head back, doing so caused his hat to slide down over his eyes, "I don't wanna die either man. What she wants to do is brave, it might work if she can pull it off and many people would benefit if the Raiders were shot to shit. But Desmond, he had twenty years of experience of fighting those freaks and they killed him"

"…I ain't gonna die in those ruins Darrel,"

Using his index finger Darrel carefully lifted his hat so he could look at his friend clearly, "Me neither buddy, me neither"

Loogie felt somewhat guilty about his choice but felt no desire to die at the hands of some junkie outlaw. Taking his hat off and pushing it against his chest Loogie could not think of what to do next so he asked, "If we ain't Rangers no more what do we do now?"

"…..wanna get drunk?"


	9. Thinking while Drinking

In the Atomic Wrangler had a few dozen clients but they were mostly in the casinos gambling their money having a grand time. Yet the cheery and flamboyant spending they took pleasure in remained confined to the Blackjack tables and slot machines while Darrel and Loogie among a smattering of empty chairs facing a silent stage. At the moment neither of them cared about the surroundings or if there was any entertainment, given an ultimatum on leaving the Rangers or stay and march to their deaths. Given that the young men believed in the Ranger's as an organisation they felt their current leader had made a bad choice over how to handle the Raiders.

"They've probably made it to the Ruins by now," Loogie assumed.

Darrel said nothing; he simply sat in his chair looking at the glass of whisky in his hand before taking another sip. Now with no place to call home and no longer a Ranger he thought his future seemed rather bleak and without a proper direction there would be little opportunity for either him or his friend. Putting his glass down on the table in front of him Darrel started to look around only to feel old memories resurface. In the corner of the room, by the stairs that went up to the second floor, Darrel remembered a certain Friday night when he and Loogie had been hired as additional security by the Garret Twins, the Casino's owners. On that night one very drunk patron decided he didn't like the way James Garret was speaking to him, in an attempt to smash a bottle over his head the intoxicated patron slipped and fell to the floor. While Darrel and Loogie were charged with taking him up to his room the drunken gambler vomited onto the wall and floor as he was carried up. In this silence Darrel let out a muffled laugh just loud enough for Loogie to pick up on.

Turning his head back toward the stairway Loogie realised what Darrel was thinking about without even asking him, "…let me guess, the guy who bathed all over the wall?"

Darrel looked Loogie right in the eyes and within moments they broke out in hysterical laughter uncontrollably yet enjoyed reminiscing old times. As this brief sensation of joy slowly faded the smiles that reached from ear to ear they both had eroded at a snail's pace, with the near future seeming bleak and without much opportunity one of them had to decide on a course of action they should follow. With everything they could do compared to what was available Darrel had to confer with Loogie before he made a decision. Leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees Darrel asked, "How many caps you got saved up?"

Loogie leaned back in his chair as he thought about it, "A couple of hundred, why?"

"Simply put, we should get out of Vegas for a while. We could go down south and work as hired guns,"

Loogie became tense at the very idea but hardly flinched when he heard the words. Taking a mouthful of whisky which caused all the hairs on his neck to stand to attention Loogie replied, "…hardly worth it….We can handle anything out there but the Legion, Fuck that! I'd rather have the Raiders shoot my balls off"

"We've hardly left Vegas in our lives. Don't you wanna see what's out there? So long as we stick to the main roads we should avoid the Legion easily,"

"Alright. So we leave Vegas, where should we be heading exactly because I don't fancy just wondering around the desert for the rest of my days,"

"Novac, it's a town to the south where we can look for work and take some time off. Downside is its somewhat far from Vegas but we could do with the exercise,"

Loogie took one last mouthful and in doing so finished his drink. Placing his glass on the table beside Darrel's he wondered what the future would hold for the two of them, now they no longer had any ties to Vegas that bound them to the city he did feel a vague amount of excitement slowly taking hold with what could await them. Cautious of what they might encounter out in the wasteland the two tried not to focus on the negatives while picturing what will await them.

"You ain't gonna throw me out!" someone cried.

Both Darrel and Loogie looked to see two men from security were dragging a disgruntled gambler toward the door. Reaching into his jacket and pulling out a revolver all of the security guards instantly jumped back, firing rapidly and randomly bullets flew through the air hitting bottles, ceiling fans and even other patrons. For obvious reasons both of the former rangers dropped to the ground with their hands over their heads. Hiding under their chairs Darrel managed to mumble, "Kind of glad to be leaving. To avoid shit like this from happening"

With his face close to the aged carpet that generated a terrible stench Loogie shared another memory in the Wrangler, "I got my shoulder grazed last time I was here. Remind me, why did we decide to come here again?"

"Cheap drinks,"

When the Revolver ran out of bullet the guards pulled the weapon from his hand and started punching the gambler. As the two got up from under the chairs confusion had taken hold of the room with a clear opportunity to leave without paying. Darrel looked toward the bar and saw the Garrets were not there and no other guard even knew he was there, without thinking he ran toward the doorway and shouted back to Loogie, "come on, race ya to the city gates!"

Loogie's inner child took control of his mind and with a jubilant expression he willing chased after his friend as they bolted for the door. Darrel kicked it open with his foot and ran out into the street. Just as he reached the poorly constructed archway to the northern entrance to Vegas came into his sights Loogie charged through just as the Wrangler's door slammed shut. Everything serious they needed to take into account had slipped from their minds and in that moment of time they felt like there were children again. Blissfully ignorant of the world around them and what lay waiting in the Mojave.


End file.
